


Charm Me

by followsrabbit



Series: practical magic [2]
Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-13
Updated: 2017-07-14
Packaged: 2018-12-01 16:44:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11490501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/followsrabbit/pseuds/followsrabbit
Summary: It's a given that Noora will spend the Easter holiday at Hogwarts.Spending it with William -- that's more of a surprise.





	1. In the Kitchens

Eva kept almost tripping over her own feet. Then almost tripping over Noora’s.

Steadying an arm around Eva’s shoulders, Noora guided her best friend—her currently smashed best friend—down the corridor. She did her best to hush their steps. Prefects were not supposed to be out of bed after hours, sneaking classmates into the kitchens after they drank a bit too much firewhiskey to celebrate the beginning of Easter holidays.

A lot. A lot too much firewhiskey. As Eva slurred and stumbled against her side, Noora felt fairly solid in her decision never to touch the liquid. If elderflower wine could send her over the edge, she didn’t want to imagine what a few shots of Ogden’s would do.

“I’m so glad we’re both staying for Easter,” Eva murmured, her brow creased and her head lulling against Noora’s, blending her strawberry hair with Noora’s blonde. “Why aren’t Vilde and Chris and Sana staying for Easter? They should come back.”

Noora stood up straighter, so Eva would too. “Vilde and Chris and Sana wanted to go home for the holiday.”

A wrinkle of Eva’s nose. “Stupid.”

Noora was inclined to agree, but also obligated to admit that she and Eva were both biased. Eva’s mom had already owled her several apologies that she would have to work for most of the week, and Noora’s parents… Well, they’d barely seemed to notice when she used to come home for Christmas holidays. Easier, better,  _more fun_  to stay here and celebrate Easter with Eva among the red and gold warmth of the Gryffindor common room than to endure her parents’ love nest.

She didn’t say any of this though, just arched an eyebrow. “You’re going to feel stupid tomorrow morning if we don’t find you water and carbs.”

“No,” Eva dragged out the word, shaking her head rather vigorously (and right into Noora’s). “Not stupid. We’re on a break!” she half-said, half-cheered, throwing an arm up into the air. “We deserve to party.”

Scanning the hallway, Noora helped Eva’s arm back down and picked up their pace.

Sober friend duty trumped prefect responsibilities tonight.

* * *

The castle was quiet enough now, in the wake of Easter holiday departures, that Noora didn’t expect to find anyone else in the kitchens.

She expected wrong.

Instead, two heads of dark hair, both already seated and snacking on what appeared to be a plate of baked goods, greeted her when she and Eva finally tickled the pear and tip toed (or toppled) over the threshold. Pressing her lips together, flattening her burgeoning smile, Noora recognized both of them. Immediately.

Eva tilted her head again, this time away from Noora’s. “Is that Chris?” she whispered.

Both heads turned. Noora looked up at the ceiling. Eva’s drunken whispers were never as whispered as she meant them to be.

"And William,” a familiar voice said. Noora met William’s deep brown eyes, before turning her red smile at the closest wall.

Chris spun around at the same time, donning a buzzed grin to match William’s crooked smile. “My stalker!” he said, raking his gaze from Eva’s bright smile to her bare feet. (She'd insisted on leaving her trainers behind in the common room. Merlin knew why.) “I was hoping you’d find me.”

Noora rolled her eyes. Eva’s attention drifted past Chris to the food assembled before him. “Are those doughnuts?”

Raising a jelly one into her view, Chris let his grin dip into a smirk. “Maybe.” His tongue darted out against his lips. “Want to trade for it?”

He seemed distinctly put out a moment later when a house elf appeared to offer Eva whatever food she liked. Less so when Eva laughed, glanced back at him for a second, and said to the house elf, “That’s okay.” Then to Chris: “Trade what?” (Noora asked Topsy the house elf for a glass of water.)

Chris patted his lap.

When Eva pulled away from her, Noora pulled her back just long enough to convince her to drink the entire glass, down to its last drop. Then stumbled when Eva threw her arms around Noora’s neck to sigh, “You’re such a good friend.”

Noora wasn’t so sure about that a moment later, when she let her walk over to the recently vacated chair—William’s; he was standing; he was still looking at her—beside Chris’s. But Eva and Chris had been hooking up for ages. Eva might be drunk, and Chris might be a complete fuckboy, but they both knew what they were doing.

“You’re sitting there?” Chris said when Eva plopped down in the chair that William had just given up.

(Noora pretended not to watch William make his way over to her.)

“Mhm.”

Chris’s eyes dropped for a moment. When they rose again, they glinted. “But chairs are so boring.”

“And your lap is so much better?”

“Why don’t you tell me?”

Noora didn’t need a mirror to know just how supremely unimpressed she looked as Chris talked Eva into abandoning her chair and straddling him. “See? Much better,” Chris said, skimming his fingers along her waist.

Eva reached over his shoulder to grab a jelly doughnut.

“Hi,” William said when he reached her side, almost breathing the greeting into her ear. He was that close. His mouth just a slip away from touching her skin, his chest just a stride away from fitting against her back. “Do you want a doughnut?”

Noora turned, partly to meet his gaze and partly to avoid the sight of Slytherin’s premier player kissing doughnut jelly from her best friend’s lips. “No.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe you asked the house elves to make you  _doughnuts_.”

William shrugged. “As opposed to whatever you were going to ask them to make?”

“We were going to see if they had leftovers from dinner! Not demand… deep fried dough.”

“Some are chocolate.” William didn’t even try to stop his lips from twitching. Noora crossed her arms. “I had a good time in Hogsmeade,” he added, probably remembering the several cups of cocoa she’d drank on that particular outing. (Date.) ( _Not_ a date.) (Maybe a date.) “When are we doing it again?”

Noora raised her chin. “It’s not happening again.”

He played dumb. “Tomorrow then? Noon?” She knew it was a ploy, because of the amusement curving his lips. Also because he  _wasn’t_  dumb—as much as Noora sometimes wished he were. Rejecting William again and again would be so much easier if he’d stop revealing redeeming qualities. Attractive qualities.

(His smile might have caught for a moment, just before he replied. She might have imagined it.)

“No. How would we—” she paused and creased her brow. “How would we even get to Hogsmeade tomorrow?”

“I know a way.”

“ _How_  are you head boy?”

William brushed his hair out of his eyes—which was good, because she’d kind of wanted to do it for him. “My respect for authority, probably.” His stupid hair.

A smile tugged at Noora’s lips. “Okay.”

“My leadership abilities. Sense of responsibility. Top marks.”  _That_ sounded more likely. Though she wasn’t about to admit it to him. “I’ll tell you more about the position in Hogsmeade if you want.”

She meant to shake her head, but didn’t quite manage. “William...”

Thank Merlin that Eva was so wrapped up in Chris— _there_  was a sentence Noora had never expected to think—because she and William were officially standing closer than casual conversation required. Because she was clearly allowing their proximity. Feeding it.

One step. She just needed to retreat one step back.

William propped an arm above her head, spreading his palm on the wall. Kept staring straight into her eyes.

Noora didn’t move.

“You’re a prefect, and you’re out after hours,” he reminded her. “How is that so different?”

Grateful for the chance to fall back on raised eyebrows and retorts, Noora said, “I’m here to help Eva.”

He stared over her shoulder. “How is that going for you?”

Noora followed his eyes—there was Eva with her legs hooked around Chris’s waist, her fingers knotted in his hair, his mouth covering hers, and his hands up her shirt. “The poor house elves.” She sighed. “We should go.”

“Back to your common room?” He shot a wry look at Eva's blatant tipsiness.   

“It’s quiet over Easter,” Noora said, opting out of mentioning that most of the remaining Gryffindors had been drinking right alongside Eva. Even though William was the last person in school who had any room to judge anyone for hoarding illicit substances in the castle, given the parties he and his friends were infamous for throwing. “No one will notice.”

“Right.” Taking out his wand, he cast  _accio chocolate doughnut_  before offering the considerably sized, considerably-frosting-drenched dessert to her. “The Slytherin common room is quiet too.”

In spite of herself, Noora took a small bite. Then swallowed a moan.

“Chris and I are the only seventh years who stayed. Plenty of free beds in our dormitory.”

Noora would have rolled her eyes if the doughnut weren’t so distracting. “So generous.” They  _needed_ to start offering these at breakfast.

William shrugged. “Head boy. It’s my responsibility to look out for my classmates.”

“Inviting Gryffindor girls to sleep over in the Slytherin boys dormitories is not one of your responsibilities.”

"Are you sure?” Mock surprise. “I still have the official letter. You can look it over in Hogsmeade tomorrow.”

Noora did roll her eyes now, but didn’t object when William leaned in to wipe a stray bit of chocolate frosting from the corner of her mouth with the pad of his thumb. Or when he let his hand linger there. She didn’t object to the date again either. (Not a date.) (Maybe a date.) (Probably a date.)

Chris, on the other hand, objected quite vehemently when William told him it was time to leave.

 _“Bro_.”

Eva giggled into his neck as he stood, as he steadied her on her feet. She grabbed another doughnut, tore it in half, and offered him the smaller portion.

Noora looked around for another glass of water, only to somehow end up locking eyes with William. Nodding at him. She didn’t say a word, but the smile that spread across his face—

He knew exactly what she was agreeing to.

 _Only for the cocoa_ , she mouthed at him.

The smile didn’t fade.


	2. In Hogsmeade

Noora had never given much thought to sneaking out of Hogwarts before, but if she  _had_... she probably would have expected it to be harder. Or for it to take more than a few morning hours of indecision, several stealthy steps past (a very sleepy, very hungover) Eva’s bed, and one secret passageway journey with William to reach Hogsmeade.

So easy. _Weirdly_ easy.

Walking around Honeydukes, completely aware that William had opted to look at her rather than at the candy from the second they started browsing, Noora ran her fingers across an array of chocolate wands. “Do you do this often?” she asked. “Take girls out on illicit Hogsmeade trips?”

Their arms grazed when William stepped beside her, her jumper rustling his jacket. “Would it bother you?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, with a sugar quill between his fingers and a smile prodding the corners of his lips.

Noora decided to drop her chocolate wand back to the tabletop before she snapped it. “Yes.”

“Alright.” It might have sounded like a surrender, if not for his curved lips. A second of silence itched by. “Don’t be jealous. I mostly take Chris.”

In spite of herself, she felt her own lips curving. “How cozy.” She reached for another chocolate wand, then for her purse.

William was at the counter paying for it before she could pull out a single knut. She should probably have said something about being able to afford her own candy on their way out of the store, but heard herself asking, “So what do you and Chris do in Hogsmeade together?” instead.

Outside, the brisk April chill whispered its way through her jumper, prompting her palms to her arms. Around them, Hogsmeade kept more hushed than she’d ever seen it—the stores and streets quiet without hoards of students to fill them.

William took off his jacket, offered it to her, and rolled his eyes when she shook her head. “Oh, Madam Puddifoot’s usually.”

“You drink tea together?”

“Or coffee. We go for the ambiance.”

“Okay.” Noora pressed her lips together, flattening her smile. The only times she’d ever stepped inside the pink frilliness of Madam Puddifoot’s had been to retrieve Vilde from her Hogsmeade dates with Magnus. That had been enough. “Is that where we’re going?”

“For our date? Don’t be so cliché.”

Her crossed arms no longer had anything to do with the breeze. “Date?” She did her best to suppress her smile, but was pretty sure he still caught it.

He certainly looked satisfied enough when he replied, “Isn’t it?”

Rather than responding, Noora took a small bite from her chocolate wand. “Eva is very hungover,” she said finally. “I needed something to do.”

When he saw a new shiver sprint across her spine, William tried to hand her his jacket again. “It’s a date.” 

She didn't nod, just tucked her arms through its sleeves, easing into its oversized warmth. 

* * *

“So.” Noora had a bag from Tomes and Scrolls sitting at her feet and a cup of cocoa hot in her hands when she finally asked, “You didn’t want to spend Easter with your family?”

William set down his own cup before saying, “No.”

“That’s it? No?”

“Trust me, I’m better off here,” he said, and then downed another sip of his much taller, much colder drink.

“What about your family?”

“Trust me.” She chased down the taste of empathy with another gulp of cocoa. “I’m better off here.”

He stared her like he could see past the red lipstick smeared across her mouth, beyond the cocoa probably lurking at its edges. Deeper than almost anyone else ever cared or dared to. Noora looked down at her cup.

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” William said finally, still holding his bottle of butterbeer. “I’m going to say something about me. Then you’ll say something about you.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Curiosity. Interest. Boredom. Plenty of reasons.”

And even though Noora was fairly certain she’d regret this, she felt herself nodding. Going along with it. Putting herself that much more into focus for him, just to get a better glimpse back.

“I always stay for Easter.” William took another long sip before opening his mouth again. “My dad has work, my mom has a new husband, and my brother”— his grip on the bottle tightened just a bit; his eyes slipped from hers for just a second—“lives in Europe.”

Noora remembered William’s older brother. He’d been a few years above her, a Slytherin, and, from all appearances, even more of a fuckboy than either William or Chris. Licking the cocoa from her lips, she added  _sore spot for William_  to the short list of things she knew about Nikko Magnusson.

“Your turn,” he said, lifting one eyebrow.

“I always stay too.” Her tongue darted out across her lips again, even though they were definitely cocoa-less at this point. “Or go home with Eva.” She glanced down at the fingertip-smudged tabletop, resisting the urge to run her napkin back and forth across the wood. “We’re all happier that way.”

“All?”

“Me. Eva, when her mom is gone. My parents.” She didn’t mean to say more, but William was still staring at her,  _reading_  her, and—“They’re happiest when it’s just them.” Happier when they could play house without a daughter invading the (occasionally pornographic) picture. “Your turn.”

She didn’t realize how downcast her face had turned until her hair, still damp from the afternoon air, fell into her eyes and onto her cheeks.

“I don’t believe that.” Until William’s fingers brushed the blonde from gaze, her forehead from its slant. “That they don’t want you around? That’s practically impossible.”

Noora really wished she could convince herself that he was just spinning a line or a joke for her. But she couldn’t, which was probably why she let him comb the pad of his thumb along her temple for just a minute longer before easing back.

Looking into her mug for a way to diffuse the tension that had settled over the table, between them, down to her muscles, Noora took another sip for inspiration. Drank until the last drop hit her tongue. “I was almost a Ravenclaw,” she said finally, because it seemed safer, easier than another home-life confession.

William’s reply was immediate. “I could have been a Gryffindor.”

"That  _can’t_  be true.”

“It is,” he said, sounding more amused than affronted. “Hatstall. We were almost in the same house.”

Noora squinted at him, leaning over the cup she’d set down on her napkin. “You chose Slytherin?”

He shrugged, and said, “Chris got sorted before me,” like that meant he’d had to follow, no questions asked.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t be jealous?” she teased, tilting her head. “You two sound very…” she trailed off with a shrug of a smile.

William’s arms were on the table, his chest against its edge, his face so close to hers that—“Would you be?”

Her arms were on the table, her ribs against its edge, too. “Of Chris? No.”

“Good.” He relaxed against his seatback a moment after she did. “Chris doesn’t smell as good as you do.”

Noora rolled her eyes to avoid meeting his.

* * *

Outside, stepping over the shallow puddles and under the dark clouds hanging overhead, Noora rolled the sleeves of William’s jacket up past her wrists. “Are we still playing?” she asked, half-wondering what to say next, half-deliberating over when to cast a drying charm on herself.

William scanned her face. “Aren’t you getting tired of games?”

And even though she knew what he was saying, what he was getting at—“You’re the one who suggested it.”

“Not that game.” They weren’t walking anymore, Noora realized. Just standing there in the sprinkling rain, letting the raw, spring chill seep through their clothes. “Aren’t you tired of pretending we shouldn’t be together?”

William should, objectively, have looked ridiculous. Just a few minutes in the rain, and his wet hair had gone flat against his forehead. But Noora was still blinking up at him, still unable to find the right words, still unable to pay attention to anything but his brown, brown eyes.

“Aren’t you…” she paused, searching for an extra note of indignation. “Aren’t you tired of your game?”

“What game?”

She crossed her arms, too aware of William’s jacket on her body. “The one where you pretend you want us to be together.”

Too aware of the way his entire focus had narrowed around her. “But I do want that.”

It was still raining. “No.” She still couldn’t move. “You don’t.”

"Why would I pretend?"

Noora didn’t have an answer to that. Just the word  _Because_ on the tip of her tongue and then a throat full of ellipses. Silence stretched between them, broken only by the splattering rain and their own breaths.

William looked up at the sky, and wrote over the quiet. “Leather, ocean water, and lavender.”

Now she moved. Surprise or confusion wrinkled Noora’s face, from her forehead to her mouth.

"That’s what I smelled the last time Slughorn had a vial of Amortentia out in class.” He turned a meaningful look at her, as if he could see the lavender lotion she used every night.

Noora licked her lips. William’s eyes tracked the tip of her tongue. She knew there were reasons, a list of them, why she shouldn’t want him. Why she shouldn’t want him to want her. “William…” She just couldn’t remember any of them right now.

“Say that you don’t feel the same, and I’ll leave you alone.”

Noora opened her mouth. Closed it. Felt his name cover on her tongue, and tried to swallow it. She didn’t register her feet moving, her fingers curling into his rain-slick hair, her lips colliding with his until he started to take a step.

(William’s grin tasted like butterbeer against hers.)

* * *

Back at Hogwarts, both still wet from the rain, each still unable to let go of the other, they climbed up to the astronomy tower. William’s hand on Noora’s waist and hips and hair all the while, not minding the moisture in her clothes and waves. His other hand in hers, not minding its dampness. His lips haunting the bruised, rain-painted redness of hers.

But when they reached the tower— William turned around immediately. “Room of Requirements?”

Noora peered in after him, then rolled her eyes. There was Eva, clearly over her hangover, and there was Chris, even more clearly all over her.

(Hogwarts  _needed_ more inter-house common spaces. For the sake of inter-house unity.)

She turned around with him, still clutching his hand, still smiling too wide. "Room of Requirements."

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I'm... very bad at finishing multi-chaptered stories? This might end up just being a one shot, but I have one or two more chapters planned that I'm really, really going to TRY to get posted in the next couple weeks.
> 
> (Which will hopefully include lots of cliche Hogwarts AU things.)
> 
> (Also. I know William being headboy is a bit of a stretch. Idk how that happened, but now I'm attached to the idea????)


End file.
